Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsFaster computer startup time. Great value.
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2020
I just installed CT1000MX500SSD1 and it performed as expected. I installed this in my 7 year old HP Pavilion HPE h8-1360t Desktop PC which had Windows 7 (now Windows 10) with an Intel i7 3770 CPU @ 3.4GHz, 16GB RAM and a 1TB hard drive. At the time, I had no need for a SSD drive as it booted up in 30 seconds at the time of purchase. Over the years with Windows update and upgrade, the boot time increased progressively. I resorted to just hibernating the computer as it was faster than turning it off/on. Now it's about 1.5 minutes and even after signing into my account and after waking from hibernation or a restart. It was less responsive due to all the background services at startup. Opening a simple web browser was sluggish. I had to wait about 5-7 minutes before the system would become more responsive. Last week, I finally decided to upgrade to a SSD as the price has gone down.
I was trying to decide between this and one of the Samsung 860 1TB SSD models. The price of the Samsung was a little higher with slightly better performance than this one, but I didn't need the fastest SSD. In my mind this and Samsung were both relatively fast. I chose this one as the best value at the advertised price.
The drive came with a small manual and a drive spacer. I did not need the spacer for my desktop. I also bought this drive together with the suggest dual mount kit and a separate SATA III data cable. There was no need to purchase the SATA to USB adapter for my situation as I already had the extra room and with data and power connector inside the desktop. The drive installation was not difficult.
The online directions for the migration process were helpful. I wished that the online directions would have displayed separate instructions for notebook/laptop users since they are more likely to benefit from a SATA to USB adater. I downloaded the Acronis True Image 202 0 version for Crucial from the link provided through the enclosed manual. There was no need for a special key to be entered for activation. The software contains the essential features required for the migration process. For Crucial users, a full version can be purchased for an additional fee. I don't see the need for it yet, but it's good to know that they provide the option in case I would like to purchase it in the future.
The migration was simple but not as intuitive. If I was cloning the drive directly, it would have been perfect. I chose the manual route to resize the partitions on my target drive and took a little longer. The software instructions didn't really explain very well on how to resize the partitions manually. I had to play around with the settings before getting it to resize the way I wanted it. Ensure that all other applications are closed before committing to the cloning process as the partition will be locked down without additional confirmation. The transfer process estimated that it would take about 4-5 hours, but when I came back an hour later, it was already done. The system reboot was then required.
I had to go into the BIOS and switch the boot drive to the Crucial SSD. It definitely booted up faster and the system was not sluggish during startup. The GUI was ready for me immediately. Afterwards, the Storage Executive installation was recommended. The Momentum Cache was a nice feature, but have not enabled it yet. As for overprovisioning, if I had known that it required dedicated space, I would have reserved some before the migration process. After searching on the Internet, I didn't really need the OP feature anyways. I just have to remember not to fill the drive to the max and allow for some room as a swap space like the disk hard drive, but if I do ever get to that point down the road, I can upgrade or add another drive.
The computer now boots up faster with about 30 seconds from off/on and 20 seconds with hibernation. I didn't really care to test the read/write speed but the faster boot time definitely renewed the life of my desktop.
I would rate the SSD as 5 star and the migration software as 4.5 star.
